Yearly Archive: 2021

“Game for the ages.” “A timeless classic.” “Best Final 4 game ever.”

I’ve read and heard a lot of these types of comments. I couldn’t agree more.

The Saturday night national semifinal between UCLA and Gonzaga was a piece of sports art.

Great pre-game story lines – check. High execution by both teams on both sides of the ball – check.  Stars playing like stars – check. Drama – check. 

UCLA came into the game as a massive underdog on a Cinderella run. Gonzaga came into the game looking invincible. But that’s why they play the game.

The game could end only one way.

COMPARE THE CALLS: CBS / ESPN / Russia / Westwood One English / Westwood One Spanish pic.twitter.com/3wg5MufE8Z

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) April 4, 2021

Chills.

Gonzaga will meet Baylor who dismantled Houston in the other semifinal. It’s the matchup most fans wanted.

While the national championship is still to be determined, the winner of our pool is not. Scott Fiasco will finish first. He picked both schools to win it all. So lets take a look at the two remaining scenarios.

If Gonzaga wins 

If Baylor wins

Good luck to all tonight and hope we have an excellent game.

11-seed UCLA upset 1-seed Michigan late Tuesday night 51-49 to earn the last spot in the Final 4. UCLA’s tournament run is unbelievable. They were one of the last at-large teams selected for the tournament. They had to play Michigan State in the First 4 which saw the Bruins rally in the second half of that game just to get that game to OT. They went on to upset BYU and Alabama to just get to last night. Incredible run by the Bruins.

And then there is Mick Cronin. Congrats to him … and his dad.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. Love you, Dad.”

Mick Cronin shares the importance of his father being at the NCAA Tournament. pic.twitter.com/NFBhb3WbnD

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 31, 2021

Earlier Tuesday night 1-seed and championship favorite Gonzaga continued to look the part in their dismantling of USC. The undefeated Bulldogs have only had one game decided by less than 10 points all season. Insane. This team is historically good but it won’t mean anything without a title. 

Gonzaga vs teams in their region:

#2 Iowa- Won by 11
#3 Kansas- Won by 12
#4 Virginia- Won by 23
#5 Creighton- Won by 18
#6 USC- Won by 19
Didnt face #7 Oregon
#8 Oklahoma- Won by 16

Beat 6 of the top 7 teams in their region by a combined 99 points.

Dominance. #Zags #ZagMBB

— DixonDisciple (@DixonDisciple) March 31, 2021

The other spot were decided on Monday. 1-seed Baylor continued their march with a victory over Arkansas. The Bears continue to look the part of a potential national champion. Meanwhile 2-seed Houston took care of business and ended 12-seed Oregon State’s unexpected run. The all-Texas match up of the Cougars and Bears will be a fun battle.

Our pool is now down to 4 brackets that have a chance to win it all – Scott Fiasco, Scott Fiasco 2, Don Elsass 2 and Matt Lapensee 2. The prize pool breakdown continues with a similar structure as past years. Good luck to everyone with a chance to place.

The weekend saw the cream rise to the top as the higher seeds moved on with the exception of Alabama which lost to 11-seed UCLA. Congrats to Mick Cronin on his first Elite 8. This team was one of the last to make the tournament playing in a play-in game against Michigan State and that game went to overtime. On the edge of missing the tournament then close to losing in the play-in game but now they are 40-minutes (or more) from moving onto the Final 4.

The leader is still Joe Lapensee with 62. The games today and tomorrow are worth eight points each so the standings will change. According to PickHoops’ Best Results report, 16 brackets can win the tournament. The next update will be posted on Wednesday which will have the prize breakdown.

First let me apologize for the lack of updates. I had some chaos of my own last weekend with WordPress. I had issues which caused me to lose to updates to the site on back-to-back days last week. I decided to take a break for a few days due my frustrations. I’m good now and ready to roll.

Last weekend was chaos. Five teams seeded 8 or worse made it to the Sweet 16. Three of the five teams are in the Midwest region (Loyola-Chicago, Oregon State and Syracuse) while UCLA is in the East region and the Cinderella of the tournament Oral Roberts is in the South. 

The chaos also saw several teams selected to go to the Final Four, Championship or Champion in our pool get booted in the first weekend. The departures of Illinois, Ohio State, Iowa, Texas and Kansas have led to a lot red in brackets. 

The following teams were the only teams selected to make it to at least the Final Four in our pool. The teams in red italics have been eliminated. Yikes. You can see this data from this report: https://www.pickhoops.com/HoopsHysteria/statsgrouppicks

As for the current standings, Joe Lapensee (my dad) is the leader with 46 but 3 of his Final Four teams have been eliminated. Tough break. The rest of standings are bunched up and with games this weekend worth 4 and 8 points these standings will look a lot different come at the end of Tuesday night.

Lastly all 113 entries have been paid for so the pool total is $565. I will post the splits this weekend.

It’s good to be back. After the cancellation of last year’s tournament, I didn’t know what to expect in regards to participation. I’m glad to report that we 113 entries this year which is close 2018 but down from our record high in 2019. The payout totals will be communicated on Thursday once the prize pool has been confirmed. Thank you to everyone for jumping back in.

As for the tournament, it did not take long for Cinderella to make an appearance as 15-seed Oral Roberts upset 2-seed Ohio State sending many brackets into chaos. Only one HoopsHysteria bracket picked Oral Roberts – Joe Flaherty #2. Congrats Joe. However Oral Roberts wasn’t the only upset of the day. 13-seed North Texas, 11-seed Syracuse and 12-seed Oregon State experienced some of that March magic. Four upsets on day one is a lot of bracket chaos.

The leader after day one is Chip Lindon #1. Unfortunately this bracket was not immune to the chaos. It has Ohio State reaching the Final Four. Ouch. 

Tip-off for day two begins in a little over an hour. I look forward to another day of fun, exciting games.

Please read the following link for PickHoops regarding how it is handling COVID affected games/teams.

https://www.pickhoops.com/HoopsHysteria/forfeitpolicy